


Pushing Daisies (Or, Not A Minute Older)

by GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Falling In Love, Fluff, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pushing Daisies AU, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-10 11:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5583313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes/pseuds/GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavin Free was 27 years, 11 weeks, 3 days, and 43 minutes old when he stepped off the sidewalk in downtown Austin, headed to visit a long-time, long-distance friend for the first time.<br/>He was 27 years, 11 weeks, 3 days, and 43 minutes, and not a minute older.</p>
<p>Ryan Haywood was 9 years, 23 weeks, 2 days, and 52 minutes old when he realized that he was given a gift. But it came with no warranty, no instruction manual, no number to call in case he needed help. He was simply given it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. And Not A Minute Older

**Author's Note:**

> An old roleplay friend of mine talked about this with me a little bit nearly a year ago… and my thoughts on this have resurfaced into this. 
> 
> (also please ignore ryan’s pie shop’s name… i couldn’t come up with anything better)

Gavin Free was 27 years, 11 weeks, 3 days, and 43 minutes old when he stepped off the sidewalk in downtown Austin, headed to visit a long-time, long-distance friend for the first time.

He was 27 years, 11 weeks, 3 days, and 43 minutes, and not a minute older.

 

____________

 

Ryan Haywood was 9 years, 23 weeks, 2 days, and 52 minutes old when he realized that he was given a gift. But it came with no warranty, no instruction manual, no number to call in case he needed help. He was simply given it.

And this gift was the ability to bring back those who have died with one simple touch. But there was a stipulation to this gift. One more touch after the dead had been brought back to life, they would be dead once more; forever. But there was one more thing too.

If the brought-back were alive for more than one minute, a random life would be taken instead. The trade was unfair; the soul that would be taken would be picked at random from those nearby. This trade was dangerous, and it took losing their neighbor (while watering the flowers) for Ryan to learn this.

He also learned this when a small vein in his mother’s brain popped; instantly killing her. One touch to her cheek brought her back, but poor Ryan had lost her hours later when she returned the touch with a goodnight kiss to his cheek.

Ryan was only 9 years, 23 weeks, 6 days, and 34 minutes; but the minutes kept going.

 

____________

 

Ryan Haywood is 35 years, 16 weeks, 2 days, and 17 minutes old as he opens his shop, loveingly named ‘Haywood You Pie Me’, in downtown Austin. Since his mother’s death, he has grown obsessed with pies; making and baking, eating and treating.

After a childhood spent in a boarding school for boys, (his father’s decision,) he has moved out of the small town in Georgia, and settled down far from home in Austin, Texas.

His pies are known for their always ripe fruit and delicious taste; peaches never brown, strawberries never spoiled. As long as he only touches them once.

 

The only one in on this secret is Michael Jones; private investigator. Michael Jones had accidentally seen Ryan bring a man back to life, then bring him back to death. Of course, Mr. Jones had proposed a trade, of sorts. He would keep the piemaker’s secret if said piemaker helped him find the criminals who had killed, stole, and other dastardly things.

 

One other person who was around Ryan, but wasn’t in on his ‘gift’, was his neighbor and waiter at his shop, a young man named Ray Narvaez Jr. Now Ray, who was 26 years, 3 weeks, 1 day, and 47 minutes old, was a short man who didn’t particularly hide his crush on the piemaker. He would openly flirt with Ryan while at the pie shop, or when Ryan would come by his small apartment two floors up to pick up his dog, Edgar, after spending the day with Michael.

Ray was blissfully unaware of Ryan’s awkwardness towards romantic relationships, or towards his dog, or towards any human being in general.

Overall, Ryan Haywood was an awkward man, Ray Narvaez Jr. was an oblivious man, and Michael Jones was a man who got down to business.

 

____________

 

Ryan Haywood is 35 years, 16 weeks, 2 days, and 18 minutes old when he receives a phone call from Michael.

He flips the sign on the door to open, and then pulls out his phone from the apron tied around his waist. He doesn’t look at who is calling before he answers.

“This is Ryan Haywood,” He weaves through the tables in the shop, then behind the counter and into the kitchen.

“Hey it’s Michael,” his friend (or really, coworker) greets. “Have you been watching the news?”

He doesn’t give Ryan time to respond.

“There’s been an accident only a few blocks away from you. Some man was hit by a car last night. His body is fine, except for being dead… But the street’s closed, the driver was drunk and after hitting the guy he swerved and when into the front window of some old lady’s knitting store. But then the guy vanished… Like out of thin air.” Michael explains, soundly oddly cheerful about the terrible accident.

“That doesn’t sound good…” Ryan hums softly as he leans against the metal table that sits in the middle of his almost spotless kitchen. “But why does this matter to you- or really us? It’s just a car accident.”

“I care about the guy who did it. It’s like he disappeared into thin air. There’s no trace of whoever was driving was even _in_ the car,” Michael sighs softly. “The reward isn’t that big, but if you’re in I’ll split it 50-50.”

Ryan sighs, and he glances over the counter. It’s still just him in his shop. “Sure, I’m in…”

He pauses, then pushes away from the table to go over to his fridge. “Does his man have a name? The one who got run over?”

“Gavin Free.”

Ryan pauses; freezes like a statue in the middle of his kitchen. He hears Michael distantly talking, as if he’s a mile away.

Gavin Free was Ryan Haywood’s long-distant friend. Gavin Free was born in England, and lived there with his uncles, who were famous authors who shared a twin personality disorder, and weren’t fond of the outside world. He had grown up alone, playing video games all day with people all across the world. He had met Ryan over a game of Halo, and since then it had been fun, full of jokes and games.

Then Ryan had suggested Gavin come to America for a week, close the distance in their long-distance friendship.

And the plan for Gavin to fly out had been going smoothly up until now.

 

Ryan was coming back to the world now; Michael’s voice getting louder in his ear.

“Hey Ryebread… You there?” Michael asks, starting to get impatient.

“Yeah… Yeah,” Ryan sounds out of breath as he slowly nods. He takes a slow spin in the middle of his kitchen, trying to wrap his head around this.

Now it had made sense on why Gavin had yet to text him about his arrival to America.

 

____________

 

Walking into the room where Gavin Free was held, in a white casket, was painful.

Sure, it made sense to bury him back home, where his only family lie. But Gavin Free’s poor uncles had no idea of his death, and it would kill the two men. So he would be buried in America, with no family or friends to attend the service.

It would be a quick and simple funeral, and Ryan’s heart ached as he looked down at the snow-white casket. Next to him, Michael stands.

“Let me do this one alone,” Ryan speaks softly, not looking up from the casket.

“Why would you need that? Just ask if who ran him over,” Michael didn’t exactly understand the emotional ties Ryan had to Gavin.

“It’s… more complicated. Closure, in a way,” Ryan finally looks up from the casket to look over at his companion. “It’s only just a minute.”

“Okay,” Michael turns to walk out. But he pauses, and points at Ryan. “But it’s just a minute-”

“I know,” Ryan cuts in.

“-60 seconds.”

“ _I know_.”

“Ask who ran him over, and then ask for your closure.”

Ryan sheepishly nods, and then he’s left alone with the casket.

He swallows thickly as he turns back to the white casket. This will be awkward and uncomfortable; he can already tell as he lifts the lid to the coffin.

Inside rests his friend, arms crossed over his chest, face pale yet peaceful. Death made Gavin look relaxed, and Ryan’s heart sunk.

His first time seeing his friend in real life… was in a casket. But he lifts his hand, looking down at his watch for a single second. He has only 60 seconds, and he bites his lip at the thought of it.

But he takes a deep breath, and leans over the casket to gently poke Gavin’s cheek.

Gavin’s eyes open almost instantly, and he sits up quickly. To avoid touching Gavin again, Ryan takes one huge step back.

The Brit looks around the room, completely confused.

“What’s going on?” He looks around, and then he spots Ryan, who has taken three big steps away from the casket. “ _Ryan_?”

Sheepishly, Ryan nods. “Yes- it’s me… And I- you- we only have 60 seconds.”

He rushes, and Gavin only looks confused.

“60 seconds? For what?”

His confusion makes Ryan feel more and more guilty.

“Well it’s really 40 seconds now- but Gavin, who killed you?” Ryan glances down at his watch to make sure he still has time.

But Gavin is looking down at his casket, eyes wide. “I… died?”

“Yes!” Ryan is getting even more exasperated as the time is running out.

 _20 seconds_.

“I-I don’t know who killed me.. All I saw were these bright lights, and then I was here.” He gestures to the room as he starts to climb out of the casket.

Ryan panics- _7 seconds_.

“Gav- I’m sorry,” Ryan speaks quickly, and he’s about to touch Gavin’s shoulder. But the Brit pulls away, and makes the motion like he’s about to push Ryan back. Like magnets, the two men take steps back to avoid touching each other.

Ryan glances at his watch, and he sees that he’s ten seconds over.

Someone else has just died, and he knows he’s too late.

“Rye…” Gavin whispers. He looks around the room once more, still awe-struck with the thought of having died, and then being brought back to life. “What’s going on?”

And Ryan knows that there’s no way he can lie about this. It would even be dumb to lie; he’s kept Gavin alive longer than he should, and now that he’s talking to his friend… He couldn’t bare to touch his friend once more.

“I-... I’ve got this thing- a gift, I guess..” Ryan trails off. “And I can sort of bring people back to life?”

It comes out as a question, and Gavin’s face twists in confusion.

“Like the first touch, they’re alive… But if I touch them again, then they’re dead. Forever…”

“So you can’t touch me?” Gavin’s voice is soft, and he takes a step forward. Instinctually, Ryan takes a step back.

“I can’t…” Ryan slowly nods. He remembers about the ‘random death’ part of this gift, but he chooses to not say that. He doesn’t want Gavin to know about that just yet.

“Oh…” Gavin looks back down at casket. “What’s going to happen then?”

He doesn’t look back up; he doesn’t see how Ryan’s eyes fill with guilt.

“Are you going to touch me again?”

“I don’t think I can.”

There’s a few seconds of silence, and then Gavin is looking back up at his friend.

“You know…” Gavin trails off. “You were my first friend.”

He smiles softly, and Ryan definitely sees how beautiful Gavin is when he’s smiling. Before, all of their smiles and faces have been over a series of pixels; pictures never fully clear and skype calls never not blurry and pixelated.

This is the first time Ryan has seen Gavin smile clearly, and he has to look away.

“Mine too,” he agrees with the Brit. “A sheltered life will do that.”

Gavin laughs a little. “You think you were sheltered? My first time out of the house and I end up getting run over!”

His voice gets loud, attracting Michael’s attention through the door. The private investigator knocks on the door.

“Ryan? What’s going on?”

Ryan remembers what’s going on, and his eyes widen.

“Just a minute!” Ryan calls over his shoulder.

Turning back to Gavin, he gestures to the casket. “Get back in and hold still, I’ll be back in a minute.”

Gavin does as told, and he awkwardly climbs back in. He was about to ask for assistance, but then he remembers his situation with Ryan.

 

Outside, Michael is looking down at his watch. It’s nearing three minutes, and he’s getting a mixture of annoyance and worry. Ryan should’ve been done two minutes ago, he hasn’t ever kept anybody alive for longer than a minute.

He sighs, looking up from his watch to the door. Then, he looks down the hall, hoping that nobody comes down the hall and wonders what’s going on.

Luckily, before anybody can come down the hall, the door swings open, and there stands Ryan; tall and awkward looking.

He looks like he normally does, good. Michael pushes away from the wall and gestures for them to start walking back down the hall.

“So who killed him?” Michael hasn’t ever started with niceties. He always gets straight to business; not wanting to fool around when there’s reward money he could be getting.

Next to him, Ryan tries to swallow down his guilt. “Gavin doesn’t know.”

“Doesn’t know?” Michael pauses in walking so he can turn to Ryan and give him a stern look. “What do you mean he doesn’t know?”

“All he saw were the headlights, next thing he knows, he’s in a coffin waiting to be buried,” Ryan’s voice remains oddly calm for how panicked his mind is.

Michael scoffs as he rolls his eyes. “Great, there goes my money.”

Their walking has stopped; they have reached the end of the hallway and they are now standing in the doorway to the main area of the funeral home. It’s empty, just them in the room.

“It can’t be that bad, and I’ll make it up to you,” Ryan wrings his hands together. “You can get a bigger cut next time.”

Michael gives him a look; one that just screams ‘ _are you sure?_ ’ and _‘oh really?’_.

“I’m serious,” Ryan insists. “But you can go… I’m going to go watch them bury Gavin…”

His awkwardness is back, but this time he speaks a little quicker; like he’s in a hurry. Instantly, Michael is suspicious, but he sighs once more and sets a hand on Ryan’s shoulder.

“Alright,” Michael nods a little. “But he’s dead right?”

Ryan knows that the one second it takes him to nod must be some sort of suspicious.

“Y-Yeah, he’s dead.”

“Good…”

Michael trails off, nodding a little as his hand slides away from Ryan’s shoulder. The blond is taller than him, so it’s a little awkward to have his hand on Ryan’s shoulder.

“We’ll figure something out, alright?” Michael sounds oddly sincere; something Ryan isn’t used to from not only Michael, but just in general. He hasn’t exactly been close enough with anybody to get sincerity.

“Yeah,” Ryan nods, looking at the floor for a few seconds. He then glances over his shoulder to the door that lead into the room that Gavin was being held in. “But I’ll see you later, okay?”

Michael nods as he waves goodbye, and he walks across the room towards the lobby of the funeral home. Ryan turns to walk back down the hall.

When he reaches the door, he takes another deep breath, and he pushes open the door.

But this time, instead of the white casket sitting in the middle of the room, it’s gone.

 

_The casket is gone._

 

 


	2. Run Away Casket

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan has to run after Gavin’s casket, and save the Brit from being buried alive… (again?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everybody! I hope that 2016 will be an amazing year for you, and to those who could’ve had a better 2015, I wish you good luck, and I’m happy that you’ve made it. <3<3 Now, onto the my freewood trash c:

As Gavin waited for Ryan, he looked up at the casket’s closed lid, and thought about how his life had led up to this point. He surely didn’t expect this to happen. 

He didn’t expect to have his first time out in the world to be his last. He had assumed his life would be the same forever. He would stay inside his uncles’ massive, mansion-like house on the outskirts of a small UK town. His two uncles, Geoff and Jack, were authors who wrote a handful of amazing and wondrous books about adventures of a lifetime in the prime of their lives, but the sudden popularity of their books had panicked the two men. With a mix of terrible social anxiety and sudden popularity, they had locked their doors and drew their curtains shut, barring the outside world from entering their now grim, dark, and lonely house.

That left Gavin, who was only a young boy when this all took place, alone and needing to constantly focus his attention on keeping his uncles in good health. He spent his childhood playing any game he could get his hands on; going through storylines where characters were going on adventures he wished to have, go to worlds he wished he could see, and just do extraordinary things like save the universe, and defeat massive villains. 

He lived vicariously through videogame characters until he met Ryan Haywood, the sweet and adorable piemaker from the states, in a game of Halo.

Ryan was his first friend, and it is unfortunate that Gavin’s first trip out into the world to see his friend was his last. 

 

And now, as he looked up at the casket’s lid, a warm and soft smile crosses his lips. While the circumstances of his first meeting with Ryan was grim, it was nice to finally see his best (and only) friend in real life.

 

____________

 

Ryan must look like an idiot. 

He’s sprinting through the graveyard, chasing after the casket that’s being driven through the graveyard, to the back where the people who aren’t buried on family plots are buried. 

He’s sweating, hair falling in front of his eyes, and his nice shoes are covered in dirt and grime. He had dressed up fairly nicely for this; button up shirt and dress slacks. But now he’s disregarding the niceness of his clothes as he stops a few graves away from where Gavin is currently being buried.

He panics, and turns around to try and find some distraction for the two men who are shoveling dirt onto the white casket.

He sees the men’s truck on the little paved path a little ways away, and he has a plan. It’s not the best, but it will work.

 

“Hey- uh- your truck is on fire…” Ryan calls to the men a minute later. Over his shoulder, the back of the truck is smoking. Sure, he doesn’t feel good about setting the truck on fire… But he doesn’t feel good about a lot of things he’s done. (For instance- keeping Gavin alive had the positives and negatives.)

The two men share an almost comically wide-eyed, mouths-open, bodies-frozen-like-statues look, and they drop their shovels to run down the small hill to their smoking truck. And Ryan waits until the men are gone and completely distracted before he starts to pry the casket’s lid open.

When the lid opens, there lies Gavin. A smile is on the Brit’s lips, and he starts to (not so elegantly) climb out of the casket.

“You took a while,” Gavin teases as he climbs out of the grave. Ryan has to take a step back; he doesn’t want to accidently brush against Gavin.

“Yeah.. Well, I leave for one minute, and then you vanish,” Ryan sheepishly smiles. “But I’m here right? Just in time to keep you from being buried alive… Well- alive again.”

Gavin laughs softly, and he’s about to set a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. But then he remembers the conditions of their relationship, pulling his hand back and awkwardly grabbing his elbow.

“Yeah…” Ryan bites his lip and he scans the graveyard. The two men have almost gotten their smoking truck bed under control, and they will be coming back over any minute now.

“We should go,” Ryan speaks quickly as he looks back at Gavin. Not really wanting to explain the distraction he made, he turns and begins to walk swiftly through the graves back towards the funeral home. Gavin gives the back of Ryan’s head a confused look, but he follows anyway. 

 

____________

 

In the kitchen of ‘Haywood You Pie Me’ that evening, Ryan cuts up the peaches for a pie that needed to be delivered tomorrow. These peaches were fresh, so he didn’t need to worry about touching them only once.

“So how long have you known about this… gift?” Gavin has been playing 20 questions for the past hour. But he’s been asking his normal hypothetical questions instead of more serious topics. Ryan has been waiting for the conversation to switch over to the events of the day, and he pauses his cutting to look up at Gavin, who is at the other side of the metal table. 

“Since I’ve been a child, I guess,” Ryan shrugs a little. He resumes his cutting. “I’ve known since I had an… accident with my mother, and then with my neighbor…”

Gavin raises an eyebrow, silently asking for clarification.

“My mother had a vein pop in her brain… I accidentally brought her back… And to keep her alive, the neighbor died. Then killed her a little later when she kissed me goodnight.” Ryan sighs softly. “It was purely accidental.”

Gavin slowly nods, and he’s silent for a minute as he thinks. “What do you mean? With the neighbor thing?”

And Ryan then remembers he didn’t tell Gavin about that, and he bites his lip as he sets the knife aside. 

“Well… If I bring someone back, they only have a 60 seconds before someone else dies to take their place.”

“Like a soul trade?”

“Sure…”

Gavin is silent for another minute, except his thoughtful look melts into one of guilt. “So someone died… to keep me alive?”

Ryan sets his hands on the metal table, and he looks down at the pile of cut peaches on the cutting board. “Yes.”

Gavin’s eyes widen, and he looks slightly horrified. “W-Who died?”

“The funeral director…” Ryan’s voice is soft. That definitely doesn’t help Gavin, who lets out a noise similar to a squawking bird.

“It’s fine! The funeral director was terrible- he stole family heirlooms before they were buried,” Ryan tries to make it better, but it doesn’t nothing to help put Gavin at ease.

“That’s not fine! Someone  _ died  _ because of me!” Gavin’s increasingly loud voice starts to echo around the empty pie shop. 

“Gavin- please,” Ryan looks up from the cutting board. “That’s just what happens… But I couldn’t just touch you again.”

That seems to make the Brit calm down, and he looks across the table to Ryan.

“I’m sorry Gavin… I really am…” Ryan whispers.

There’s another minute of silence as Ryan pulls away from the table to set the knife in the sink and grab a bowl to place the cut peaches in.

“How many people have you brought back?” Gavin finally asks. His voice is shaky and soft. “For more than a minute- I mean.”

“You’re the second.” Ryan comes back to the metal table; picking up the cut peaches gingerly and placing them in the little metal bowl. 

Gavin slowly nods, and then he looks over the countertop; out into the empty shop. It’s dark outside, and the only light in the shop is from the one light on over the metal table, and the soft glow of the refrigerator up against the back wall.

A silence stays in the kitchen for quite some time, then Gavin quietly asks another hypothetical question that makes Ryan crack a smile and try to come up with a somewhat serious answer.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is pretty damn short, but I figured this was a pretty good place to end it. And I hope you enjoy this so far, because I’m pretty in love with this! 
> 
> (The next chapter is pretty long, so it'll make up for this pretty short chapter.)
> 
> ALSO- don't forget to hit me up, give me a follow, send an ask, or just read some shippy-asks I've been sent at my [tumblr](http://geoffs-8-greatest-mistakes.tumblr.com/)! c:

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter (and most of chapter two) follows the show pretty closely, but please know that after the first two chapters, there will only be a handful of moments that follow the show. I’ve decided to go a different route with this, and that will require me to pull away from the show.  
> (And chapter length may vary, but I plan on having longer chapters and a shorter story. So like, 10 chapters but longer chapters.)
> 
> And hey! Pop over to my [tumblr](http://geoffs-8-greatest-mistakes.tumblr.com/) so we can chat, or you can send in something for me to write!


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